Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version alone among major language versions begin a new paragraph in the middle of this verse. This is directly contrary to the structure of the Hebrew, and is definitely not to be copied. The whole of verses 2-4 is in the third person (referring to the LORD), but is still regarded as being part of the direct quotation of the LORD’s words that runs from verse 1 to verse 6. It is nothing unusual in Hebrew for the LORD to speak of himself in the third person.
The first half of verse 2 brings out the element of threat in the coming of the LORD, and the second half explains the reasons. The first half consists of two parallel questions, which together make a single point. The expected answer to both questions is “Nobody.”
But who can endure the day of his coming: As far as the grammar is concerned, the object of the verb endure is the day, but as far as the meaning is concerned, it is his coming that is the cause of the anxiety. This is brought out well in Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 2. Edition with questions like “Who will be able to survive when he comes?” The person referred to in his coming is “the messenger of the covenant” in verse 1. For a similar expression, compare Joel 2.11.
And who can stand when he appears?: Revised Standard Version puts both questions into one sentence linked by and. Good News Translation and many other versions use two separate questions, and in most languages this is rhetorically more effective. Stand in this context means “stand firm” (New English Bible/Revised English Bible), or better, “remain standing” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible). Curiously Good News Translation translates the first part of this question in words almost the same as Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 2. Edition used to translate the previous one: “Who will be able to survive…?” On the whole the idea of survival seems to represent the sense of the first question better than that of the second. Stand is likely to have its literal meaning here: no one will be able to remain on his feet when the LORD’s representative appears. Compare the reactions of those who see heavenly figures in such passages as Jdg 13.20; 1 Kgs 18.39; Ezek 1.28; Dan 10.9 (note also Luke 5.8; Php 2.10; Rev 1.17; 22.8 in the New Testament). They all fall down in worship, and the sense intended in this second question is “Who will not fall down [or, prostrate themselves] and worship when he appears?” An alternative model for the two questions is “Who will be able to survive when the messenger comes? Who will not prostrate himself and worship him when he appears?”
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap: For shows the link between the reverence inspired by the messenger and its cause he will carry out a searching and painful purifying process. This process is described by means of two similes. The first compares the messenger with a refiner’s fire. This is a picture drawn from the melting and heating of metal in a furnace to purify (or, refine) it. When the metal is melted in this way, the impurities either burn off or come to the surface from where they can be removed. This picture occurs frequently in the Old Testament; see for instance Psa 66.10; Isa 1.25; 48.10; Ezek 22.17-22; Zech 13.9. In Hebrew the word translated refiner’s is singular, as is shown by the position of the apostrophe before the “s” in English. A refiner’s fire may also be rendered as “a fire that refines metal [or, makes metal pure].” In some languages it may be more natural to translate refiner’s as plural; for example, “the fire of those who [habitually] purify metal.”
The second picture compares the messenger with fullers’ soap. This picture occurs elsewhere only in Jer 2.22. In Hebrew the word translated fullers’ is plural, as is shown in English by the position of the apostrophe after the “s.” In some versions, such as New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, the technical term “lye” is used instead of soap. This is an alkaline liquid containing potassium hydroxide, obtained by percolating water through wood ash. Lye was used in the process of fulling cloth, that is, washing newly woven cloth in water or a chemical solution in order to make the fibers swell and fit together evenly. The person who carried out this process was called a “fuller.” Washing the cloth in a chemical solution such as lye was also an effective way of removing greasy and oily stains. Translators may not need such technical information, but they do need to realize that the text is not talking about ordinary soap. Fullers’ soap or lye is a powerful chemical agent with a strong cleansing effect. In everyday terms it may be more like modern bleach than modern soap. Some versions such as Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible say “fullers’ alkali.” Translators may say “alkali” if there is a convenient term in their language, or they may simply use “strong soap,” as in Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version. Strangely, Moffatt translates it as “acid,” but in chemical terms this is wrong, and should not be followed.
In this verse the messenger is likened to the fire and the soap rather than to the people who use them. In the following verse, however, the comparison is with the refiner rather than with the fire. In the light of this, some translators may wish to combine the pictures and say “he is like a man who uses fire to refine [or, purify] metal, and like a man who uses lye to clean new cloth and prepare it for use.”
Because the picture of the refiner is continued in the next verse, Good News Translation has put the pictures of fire and soap in the opposite order to make the transition smoother. Other translators may wish to follow this example.
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Malachi. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .